Ticket Touts

[russycarps]

I once sold MGMT tickets for way over face value on ebay. Made about £120 or something on 2 tickets for some gig at the Barrowlands years ago.

I didnt buy to sell, but was informed how much they were selling for from a mate so couldnt justify going considering how much I could get for them.

Many tickets must be sold likle this. Cant say it bothers me.

Have used touts on few occasions. Most recently Jack White at the Usher hall. Paid about double face value but thats the way it goes. My fault for not being savvy enough to get tickets in the first place.

[ICGenie]

How? If the gig is sold out then they have made all the money they planned to make, no? They all must be very happy at that, no? How do they "lose out" when tickets are sold on?

I dont agree with touting btw, but I dont understand how touting hurts such industry folk as you mentioned. Touting can only happen if a gig is sold out yeah? and if a gig is sold out then the industry folk must be happy, no? Or do we have to feel sorry for them that they could have potentially sold out at a higher price? But then surely the only person who looses out there is the punter?

Touting is shit for the punter but I cant see how its bad for the music industry, but then I may no be looking at it right........

[LondonTom]

I once sold MGMT tickets for way over face value on ebay. Made about £120 or something on 2 tickets for some gig at the Barrowlands years ago.

I didnt buy to sell, but was informed how much they were selling for from a mate so couldnt justify going considering how much I could get for them.

[DougalMcGuire]

How? If the gig is sold out then they have made all the money they planned to make, no? They all must be very happy at that, no? How do they "lose out" when tickets are sold on?

I dont agree with touting btw, but I dont understand how touting hurts such industry folk as you mentioned. Touting can only happen if a gig is sold out yeah? and if a gig is sold out then the industry folk must be happy, no? Or do we have to feel sorry for them that they could have potentially sold out at a higher price? But then surely the only person who looses out there is the punter?

Touting is shit for the punter but I cant see how its bad for the music industry, but then I may no be looking at it right........

Edited October 14, 2013 by DougalMcGuire

[evilduck]

All the people saying that touts have ended up useful to them for getting tickets to gigs that sold out, if the touts hadn't bought up all the tickets then maybe you would have been able to get one when you eventually decided to go? Or if there was a resale limit you could have got one for face value instead of double the price. Your argument in favour of touts doesn't work.

I think introducing a face value limit on resales would be an amazing thing, but all the companies involved don't care because they make a shit load of money.

[DougalMcGuire]

Companies such as Live Nation/Ticketmaster (are they the same thing now?) are savvy enough to appoint some key board members with the correct political sway to ensure bills promoting a fair policy such as banning the likes of ViaGogo never see the light of day.

Probably time to point to this link again by Trent Reznor talking about scalpers:

http://forum.nin.com/bb/read.php?59,548515

[GiveMeATicket]

Hasn't the government got better things to debate?

I don't see the problem. Ticket touts generally have the same chance of obtaining tickets regular punters do come ticket sale day, if the punter isn't organised enough to know when they go on sale first time round then they should fully expect to pay the free market rate for the product.

Shall we ban people buying art and classic cars simply to make a profit as well while we're at it?

[ThomThomDrum]

As already explained, if the punter has to spend twice as much on the ticket they have less mony to spend on drink / merch. Touring ain't a cheap thing for bands to do, those in small-medium size venues rely on merchandise sales to make a profit (or break even in some cases).

Touting has also contributed to the increase in ticket prices in general - I can't remember who but I'm sure one big artist has gone on record as saying that they have put up prices because touts have shown how much people are prepared to pay. So now EVERYONE is paying more. Brilliant.

All the arguments against re-selling tickets would disappear if venues / agencies allowed refunds if someone couldn't go. But I don't see them agreeing to that any time soon...

Edited October 14, 2013 by ThomThomDrum

[Klyde]

Some necks really need to be wound in on this forum.

The stench of this angry moral high ground nonsense impresses nobody. Just makes you look like a complete c*nt.

Punting tickets on ebay because they are going for stupid money doesn’t make you "scum".

If you continually miss out on popular gigs, its your fault. Stop blaming other factors.

[russycarps]

Some necks really need to be wound in on this forum.

The stench of this angry moral high ground nonsense impresses nobody. Just makes you look like a complete c*nt.

Punting tickets on ebay because they are going for stupid money doesn’t make you "scum".

If you continually miss out on popular gigs, its your fault. Stop blaming other factors.

[Yesiamaduck]

Some necks really need to be wound in on this forum.

[eFestivals]

Punting tickets on ebay because they are going for stupid money doesn’t make you "scum".

I know many more Glasto-goers today cannot see another version of life except the 'free market' (which is a fantasy anyway, tho that's another subject) as that's been their sole experience of life, but if you took a moment to actually read up on the free market principles you subscribe to, you'd get to find that even those free market principles consider speculators as scum.

There is no added value in speculation, and by speculating on a finite resource you do not - cannot - contribute to the wealth of mankind, you merely profit from the work of others while giving nothing in return.

But hey, if your ideology is one of spivs and speculators, forget my words above, and please do not have a long and happy life as the rest of us cannot afford to support you.

[The Naughty One]

I detect the presence of scum

[gmb1992]

I sold Michael Jackson Tickets for £400, the tw@t died i had to refund

[Klyde]

This forum seems full of mock outrage. Only a matter of time till someone mentions Hitler.

Fact is if you miss out on tickets on ticket day, you have nobody but yourself to blame.

Suck it up.

[russycarps]

would this justify me being called 'scum'?

[eFestivals]

Just out of interest, would you call a tout 'scum' outside of a music venue? Or is this just internet brovado?

I've done it.

But anyway, I don't see those as scum really, at least to nothing of the same extent.

That's because a (traditional) tout outside a venue is adding value. They buy up spares from those people who have spares, and they sell those on for a 'service fee' - their profit - for having put the time and money and effort into buying up those spares in the first place.

It's often convenient to sell to the touts too, as they put the work into making the sale (anyone who's tried it a few times will know that it can be a time-consuming task, that might even have you miss some of what you've come to see).

Today's "internet touts" are something else entirely. They are not doing anything clever, they do no work, they add no value. They merely deny a buyer the item at the price that buyer would otherwise have paid.

It's far closer to simple robbery than it is any valid free market principle.

Edited October 14, 2013 by eFestivals

[eFestivals]

This forum seems full of mock outrage. Only a matter of time till someone mentions Hitler.

Fact is if you miss out on tickets on ticket day, you have nobody but yourself to blame.

Suck it up.

Someone already has, and by doing that you make the rest of your own words invalid.

Oh dear.

[Guest]

I sold Michael Jackson Tickets for £400, the tw@t died i had to refund

[eFestivals]

You don't know any bodies background, for example if my car was in need of urgent repairs costing £150, I have 2 tickets for a gig which I notice are selling for £150 on the secondary market so I need to make the decision whether to go to the gig or to get my car repaired allowing me to take my children to school and get to work. If I chose selling the tickets would this justify me being called 'scum'?

In my eyes, no. In that set of circumstances it's a reasonable decision to make.

But nothing of that was you buying tickets to profit by. You bought the tickets genuinely, with the intention of using them. When a crisis happened in your life your priorities have changed, and you act on those changed priorities.

But all of that is completely different to buying tickets ONLY to deny someone else them at the face value price, via which you aim to take cash off someone for doing nothing. That's robbery in my eyes.

Edited October 14, 2013 by eFestivals

[Riggins]

There's no guarantee you'd get the ticket even if you removed all the touts from the equation. Sometimes there's no way you can afford the ticket until a later date anyway meaning it doesn't matter.

People that occasionally list tickets on eBay and they go for a lot aren't scum, far from it. I can understand disagreeing with it but scum is too far.

In my eyes, no. In that set of circumstances it's a reasonable decision to make.

But nothing of that was you buying tickets to profit by. You bought the tickets genuinely, with the intention of using them. When a crisis happened in your life your priorities have changed, and you act on those changed priorities.

But all of that is completely different to buying tickets ONLY to deny someone else them at the face value price, via which you aim to take cash of someone for doing nothing. That's robbery in my eyes.

Edited October 14, 2013 by Riggins

[ThomThomDrum]

Someone already has, and by doing that you make the rest of your own words invalid.

Oh dear.

[Guest]

This forum seems full of mock outrage. Only a matter of time till someone mentions Hitler.

Fact is if you miss out on tickets on ticket day, you have nobody but yourself to blame.

Suck it up.

[ThomThomDrum]

You can't rob someone of something they never had, and were never guaranteed to have?

[Riggins]

You can rob them of the opportunity..........